Like his cousin, Charles Darwin, Francis Galton (1822 - 1911), worked on the study of heredity. He founded the science of eugenics (the study of improving human races), and in 1865 documented his findings in his best-known work "Hereditary Genius, its Laws and Consequences". In… Continue

I was fortunate enough to make a quick stop in Singapore last month to view the exhibition 'The Originals of GR Lambert' which is currently on show at the Philatelic Museum - as mentioned in an…Continue

The National Media Museum appears on a leaked list of public bodies under review for closure by the government. Incorrectly named as the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television the museum is directly funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. Other bodies which are under review include the National Archives and eighteen other museums and galleries in the UK. The British Library is to be…

Paul Nadar (1856-1939) was the son of the celebrated nineteenth-century French photographer Felix Gaspard Tournachon, aka Nadar. Between the two of them, they achieved a number of 'firsts' in the history of photography including aerial photography, artificial lighting,…Continue

As mentioned in an earlier blog here, the other recent prized find by Oxfam volunteers of two extremely rare 19th century photo albums of Argentina taken by French photographer, Esteban Gonnet,… Continue

To mark the bicentennial of Karl XIV Johan’s selectionas heir to the Swedish throne, Nationalmuseumpresents an exhibition of black-and-white portraits of the House of Bernadotte. No other Swedes…Continue

The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger (OMLJ) was a British trade monthly that appeared from 1889 to 1903 and had a remit covering the magic lantern and illumination through to photography and the world of early cinema. The OMLJ featured news and opinions from each of the worlds and through its correspondence and advertising pages provides a unique insight into each of these areas at an important point in their history.

No connection with the company whatsoever, but there is an interesting selection of reference books, cartes de visite, ephemera, cameras, magic lanterns, daguerreotypes, optical toys etc including British interests at a forthcoming online sale on 25th Sept. Details can be found here.

Christie's will be auctioning off an exclusive private collection of 74 daguerreotype photographs by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey in New York next month. Entitled "A Historic Photographic Grand Tour - Important Daguerreotypes by Philibert Girault de Prangey", it is expected to fetch… Continue

The late Raymond Moore (1920-87) created a special kind of landscape photograph. Much admired in his time, Moore's work has been hard to find in exhibitions in recent years. Tate Britain recently opened a display of British landscape photographs. Three Raymond Moores are included, of which two are recent gifts to Tate. The display is located in the last room on the right in the Clore on the ground floor.

A new book focussing on early 19th and 20th century images of regency Cheltenham will be launched at Waterstones in the Promenade on 25th September.

Entitled 'Cheltenham - Past and Present', it includes about 90 photographs from this period, with about 60 of them never seen before. The author, David Hanks, completed the book earlier this year for the History Press's national series, Britain in Old Photographs. The 61 year-old author who is also a member of the Cheltenham Local… Continue

This autumn sees the launch of two brand new Muybridge in Kingston exhibitions, staged in Eadweard Muybridge’s hometown of Kingston upon Thames, running in parallel with a major Tate Britain retrospective on Muybridge’s pioneering work.

Muybridge Revolutions (18 Sept- 12 Feb 2011) opens almost exactly a century after the first ever Eadweard Muybridge exhibition at Kingston Museum. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and other partners, this exhibition focuses on Muybridge’s unique… Continue

The IsraelMuseum, Jerusalem, has selected artist Michal Heiman to receive the first Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography. Created in partnership with the Israel Museum, the new biannual prize…

Award winning, visionary and truly unique, the National Media Museum embraces photography, film, television, radio and the web. Part of the NMSI family of museums, we aim to engage, inspire and educate through comprehensive collections, innovative education programmes and a powerful yet sensitive approach to contemporary issues.

The Yorkshire Post reports that there is increasing speculation that the the National Media Museum may have to start charging admission. It reports that: The organisation which runs York's National Railway Museum and Bradford's National Media Museum is also "planning for a range of scenarios" and has refused to rule out changes to opening times as it waits to find out how badly the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) budget is cut in the Comprehensive Spending…